826 The New World

[cdnchris]

No it's there. I messed up somewhere and blended the essay with the article in my notes after I read it last week. I didn't go back and double check, so that's on me. It's there. I will have to fix it.

[float]

Beaver

I've already preordered the disc -- The New World is my 2nd favourite Malick. I must say I'm a bit disappointed in the revised colour grading however.

I saw this film twice theatrically when it came out, and although I can't say *for sure* what it looked like, I do know one thing -- that a cinematographer friend HATED the cinematography because he said "all the skies are blown out". This is something the Beaver caps demonstrate that has been "fixed" in the Extended Cut. Looking at all the Extended Cut caps, that is definitely *not* the film I remember seeing in 2005 -- much has been done in the now Digital realm of colour grading. And I can see the once-again "cool blue" look that Criterion seems to be pushing more and more with their blurays (which I'll never understand why this is happening).

I'm happy the theatrical cut kept its older, presumably more original, colour grade. I always enjoyed the theatrical version of the film. So sad that it looks like they probably just used the old transfer :(

[Oedipax]

From what I've heard, according to Malick's colorist, Malick now prefers what he calls a "no-look look." In other words, he wants the grading to be transparent, as if you were looking out a window at the real world, rather than deliberately stylized and pushed to one extreme or another (like the dreaded and much derided orange-and-teal treatment we see so often).

So in all these Criterion releases of Malick films, there is a noticeable bias towards neutral and even cooler color, moving away from the warm and saturated colors of a Romantic painting (looking at the old Badlands DVD vs the new grade it's especially noticeable). I'll admit I never disliked his films being a bit more vibrant, warm and saturated, but it seems the newer transfers are more in line with Malick's preferences and presumably were not achievable in this way based on old photochemical processes and primitive grading techniques (i.e. printer lights). To my eye, while they have definitely pulled in a lot more dynamic range in the new transfer and recovered the previously blown out skies, the images are still very pleasing and don't have the horrible HDR look* to them you sometimes get by recovering too much in the highlights and shadows.

*Also, just as a side note - HDR in moving pictures and HDR as it is sometimes practiced in still photography are two very different things, and the coming addition of HDR capability to TVs and new shows/films is not the HDR being illustrated in the previous image - HDR done properly is in fact a very exciting new phenomenon.

[Rolad]

Just watching through the extended cut disc and I noticed that at about 2:12:03 the sound levels fade to zero, then cut back in abruptly about 15 seconds later. Has anyone else noticed this? It's kind of distracting, and not present on my copy of the old blu-ray.

[solaris72]

Apparently Malick significantly reworked the sound for this release of the extended cut.

[Monkey Ballz]

Popped in Cabin Boy for a first time viewing and was greatly amused at the opening credit sequence's similarities to The New World's opening credits.

Salut, Terry!

[FrauBlucher]

I've been in the middle of watching this. I watched the extended cut along with the supps on disc 1. Then watched the supps and the beginning of the theatrical cut on the second disc. This has become my favorite Malick. Who knows, maybe that changes when I revisit other Malicks. But this film is amazing. It's so beautiful. This leading into The Tree of Life has cemented that Malick style of a visual poetry. The three that follow are good but not masterpieces like this and Tree IMHO.

Btw... I'm really looking forward to The Way of the Wind

[hearthesilence]

I didn't really appreciate the film until my second viewing (like the previous one, at home via the extended cut), and it really struck me how much of the film played like a great silent film, and many of the best silent films by the likes of Murnau and others aspired to the technical sophistication that can be seen here, particularly the Steadicam's complete mobility. It's already been pointed out that Murnau was a huge influence on Days of Heaven and references to Murnau's work can be seen in The Thin Red Line - all of that can be seen in The New World as well. Paradoxically, the voiceover feels like a throwback to the title cards you'd see in the silent era in the way they're written or function as commentary or narration. If Malick had removed the sound altogether and converted the voiceover into title cards, I think the effect would have been very similar in many cases.

[FrauBlucher]

hearthesilence, I really like your observation. I never thought about this but yeah, I so see some of the great silent films in The New World and Malick's work overall. I think the way he uses light or the lack of artificial light that also gives that feel of the silent film era. It's funny that the producer purchased a lighting package that went unused

[Finch]

It would be really nice though highly unlikely given their slavish adherence to their filmmakers' preferences, if Criterion would restore the other two cuts in 4k when the UHD is eventually in the pipeline for The New World. It really bugged me that on the BD, they dumped the first cut and the theatrical version in already dated transfers on the disc. Malick may consider the 172 minute version as the best, but the film made an indelible impact in all three edits and to see the 135 and 150 minute versions treated as an afterthought is really galling, especially if, like me, you consider the 150 minute version a perfect compromise between the theatrical and Malick's final extended cut.

[Matt]

The theatrical cut is still, in my opinion, the best. It has more breathing room, despite the shorter runtime, and Malick had not yet succumbed to his quicker-paced, scattered editing style that has ruined my interest in his late work. I think all the cuts still arrive at the same emotionally resonant ending, but the director’s cut just takes a more digressive, associative path to get there.